


Seasons of Love

by hobie



Category: Selfie (TV), Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Romance, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-01
Updated: 2015-10-25
Packaged: 2018-03-04 15:42:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 4,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3073319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hobie/pseuds/hobie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Chapter 1-3<br/>Henry and Eliza spend New Year's Eve together<br/>Chapter 4<br/>Henry and Eliza spend Valentine's Day together</p><p>Chapter 5<br/>Henry and Eliza spend St Patrick's Day together</p><p>Chapter 6<br/>Henry and Eliza spend Easter together</p><p>Chapter 7<br/>Bethany's baby comes in October</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Most of the employees at Kinderkare Pharmaceuticals had left early for the day this New Year's Eve, but Henry Higgs sat in his office going over the latest online ad campaign. The building would be closed tomorrow for the Holiday, so he wanted to get in as much work as he could. He didn't intend to party like it was 1999 like much of his coworkers. Grand Park with its thousands of revelers was out of the question as were many of the raves and hot parties at Hotels and clubs. He had been there and done that in his salad days. _Salad Days, he thought. Am I that old now?_

He couldn't believe it was already 2015. The years had started to go by faster. He didn't feel old though. Possibly because of her. 

As if on cue, Eliza burst into his office unannounced. She hadn't joined him for lunch today; he just assumed that like the others she had gone home early. 

"What are you still doing here?" he asked pleasantly. 

"I wanted to see what you were doing tonight," she gave him a hopeful look. "For New Year's Eve." 

"I don't have any plans," he offered. But he arched a quizzical eyebrow. 

"Freddy's gone to Aspen on a holiday ski trip with Garfield and Heathcliff," she said with a frown. "So hopefully, you'd want to do something?" 

He had to admit he didn't like to be someone's second choice. And knowing Eliza, she'd want some hot trendy place to ring in the new year where she could stay ahead of Fit Brit. 

"I don't know," he hesitated. "I'm not really..." 

"It's alright, you can come to my place," she offered. 

He weighed his options and the consequences. "Why don't you come to mine instead. I'll be able to make us some dinner." 

"Great," she beamed. "You want me to bring anything? I could pickup some sushi or something." 

"Sure," he replied. "Bring whatever you want, little bit of you, little bit of me..." 

"Okay," she said with a smile then turned to leave. "See you tonight." 

When the redhead was gone, he leaned back into his chair, wondering what he had gotten himself into. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year's Eve

Eliza appeared promptly at Henry's door around 8pm. She carried a couple of bags of goodies and knocked at his door. Henry, wore a kitchen apron along with khakis and a casual tee.

"Look at you, playing happy homemaker," she chuckled.

"I rarely entertain," he told her. "But it's new year's eve."

"I stopped by the market," she set the bags down. "Got us a california roll, some sea scallops, jumbo shrimp and of course two bottles of Cristal."

"Champagne? What's the occasion," he examined the goods with a smile.

"Duh," Eliza cast him a weird look.

"Just kidding," he smiled back warmly. "I just never got to use that line until now."

"I'm not much of a cook, but can I help you with anything?" she asked, taking off her jacket. She wore a simple LA Dodgers Jersey T-Shirt with tight matching blue yoga pants. He couldn't help but notice how nicely she fit into them and had to avert his gaze.

"You could help with the vegetables he pointed to the onions, cucumbers, and carrots laid out on a cutting board on his counter." Nearby was a Ginsu Knife set, all of them placed orderly in the block.

She washed her hands then drew out the best one for cutting veggies. Henry watched her and chuckled.

"What?" she wanted in on his in joke.

"Remember the time you pulled that Gone Girl thing on me in the breakroom?"

She did, remembering the extremely low time after he had rejected her at the karaoke night and things had been awkward between them. He had hurt her more than he knew and she had tried to make light of it by smearing herself with ketchup and pretending she had been stabbed.

Grabbing a cucumber, Eliza found the knife did all the work and she easily cut it into smaller pieces. He handed her a serving platter so she could arrange them for later.

"What are we making, chef?" she asked.

"Have you ever had Korean food before?" he asked.

She nodded no.

"Well, I'm making us Samgyeopsal. It's grilled pork belly." He opened the refrigerator and took out a large platter with neatly sliced pieces of the thick fatty meat. It looked like thicker pieces of bacon.

"Looks tasty," she remarked with a smile and regarding him with a new respect. A guy that can cook. _a way to a woman's heart may also be through her stomach_

"We'll set this aside for later. We'll cook the meat on a hotplate then eat the veggies and salads with it. After you cut them, could you pull apart some lettuce?"

"Oh for wraps?" she asked. 

He nodded with a smile. She was a bright student. And he still had to wonder what the hell he was doing trying to mentor her. Was he trying to make her into what he wanted in a woman or what she wanted to become?

He took some cooked soybean sprouts out of the pot on the stove then into a bowl then added garlic, onion, and some spices and mixed it. Once that side dish was ready, he made a dipping sauce for them called Ssamjang, combing soybean paste, green onion, garlic, sesame oil and seeds. While he mixed ito in the bowl, she watched him with fascination.

"You really know your way around a kitchen," she observed. 

"I used to enjoy helping my Mom when I was younger," he admitted. "She taught me a lot."

"My mom only taught me to make instant oatmeal or macaroni and cheese," Eliza recollected. "I almost flunked home-ec."

They brought their food over to the dining room table. He had a small portable grill with a grill plate atop it. Henry placed the slices of pork belly on it, a she could her a sizzling sound as it cooked. After turning them so both sides were done, he took a couple pieces then put them on a big lettuce leaf. 

"Add some of this special sauce then some Kimchi and a little of the sprout salad," he delicately and deftly assembled the wrap for her.

Eliza took it and took a dainty bite. There were no superlatives for how good it tasted. "OMG, that is so delish," she gushed.

"Glad you like it," he said assembling his own and taking a healthy bite.

"Why didn't you ever bring these to work? They'd sell like hotcakes, Henry? You've been holding out," the tall red head accused.

He smiled back. "I didn't know if my cooking was that good."

"Well make sure to give me this recipe because I will totes have this at least once a week," she chewed with gusto. And as she looked across at him she realized this was the first meal they shared together where they weren't standing up eating over a garbage can. It felt good and nice and he had been the first one to ever want to eat with her. And a lengthy silence persisted as if they were both considering things but could not say what they wanted. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Korean bbq dish is credited to:  
> http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/samgyeopsal-gui
> 
> Check it out for great eating.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> New Year's Eve with Heliza

After dinner, they moved to the living room. He joined her on the couch and set out the scallops and jumbo shrimp with plenty of cocktail sauce. The Korean feast had filled her, so she only had a few shrimp. 

"I'm sorry you didn't get to spend New Year's Eve in style," he said, afraid of the awkward silence.

"I've had my share of them already and I've always woken up with a killer hangover," she shrugged. "It's okay."

"But I wouldn't have blown you off for my buddies," he found himself saying, then wished he could have taken it back. He was venturing into dangerous territory, having never advised her on her relationship with Freddy.

"He had those plans for months," she stated. "I could have gone, but his friends weren't bringing their girlfriends either. Didn't want to be a third wheel"

Three young guys on an alpine adventure in Aspen partying at the New Year's Winter Wonderland among numerous ski bunnies? Henry wondered how faithful Freddy was.

She considered his words. He wouldn't have blown her off for his buddies. Why was he talking like this when he had essentially blown her off that painful karaoke night.

"Want to watch a movie?" he asked. "I have Harold and Kumar's Christmas or Guardian's of the Galaxy."

She ignored the movie request. "So if we were celebrating New Year's eve and not blowing me off, what would we be doing?"

He was taken aback by her query. "I don't know, probably something that both of us would enjoy." 

"Like what?"

He fidgeted. She had him backed into a corner. "I don't know, I'd want us somewhere safe, where we wouldn't be at risk of getting killed by a drunk driver. Maybe somewhere warm with a nice view. We could discuss our resolutions and watch the ball drop from Time's Square on TV, a champagne toast and kiss at midnight." 

Henry swallowed hard, wondering if he said too much. 

"That sounds perfect," Eliza said softly. 

"Well, Guardians or Harold and Kumar?" he quickly killed the mood.

She opted for the latter and they spend the next hour and a half enjoying the screwball comedy. She made a joke that Kumar reminded her of Raj. 

He went into the kitchen to get something. She switched on the TV to local programming that would show the ball drop in LA. 

Eliza gazed over his living room, remembering the time she had been evicted and the night he had let her stay here. She had gone through his DVD and music collection to keep herself entertained but had enough etiquette not to pry into his personal spaces.She had slept in his nice kingsize bed and in spite of herself privately cried more over him. The hurt of the karaoke night hasn't dulled especially when she had to stay at his place plus Julia had shown up to return his things. He was lying to her, still lying to himself. 

Eliza went back into the kitchen. "Henry, it's almost midnight," she told him, eyeing him take some pound cake out of the oven. 

"Pop the cork and pour us some Cristal," he smiled at her while setting dessert on the counter. 

She opened the champagne and poured it into two flute glasses he had set up. She thought back to when Freddy and her had shared the stuff in the hot tub at the ritzy hotel. _geez, Henry would never drink champagne from my mouth._

She went to hand him his flute but clumsily tripped over an imaginary gnome. At the same time, he was taking a bag of confectionary sugar out of the cupboard then opening it. She knocked into him, sending a shower of the white powder into the air. Champagne spilled onto his chest and a lot of the sugar ended up in her hair and face. 

"Omg, I'm sorry," she said sheepishly.

He moved his hand to her face as if by reflex and gently wiped some sugar from her lips. Their eyes met and neither looked away. 

_Women like it when you find an excuse to touch them, she had once told him._

He had come to the moment of truth. It was either nut up or spend more lonely nights beating himself up. 

Then he finally did what he had wanted to do when she had first come to his house and had pushed him into the rain. He did what he wanted to do the night he rode a white horse out to say he was sorry. He did what he should have done in an elevator when she had taken his coat off. 

Henry Higgs kissed the sugary lips of Eliza Dooley, and it felt good and right.

"Henry...." She stared at him, her eyes full of shock.

"Happy New year," he whispered.

"Happy new year?" she eyed him warily. 

He suddenly felt unsure of himself. 

But he had underestimated her. She was as sharp as a Ginsu knife.

"You fiend!" She backed him into the refrigerator. 

But she didn't hit him. Instead she leaned in and kissed him passionately, knowing full well he had set her up. Henry Higgs was nothing if not devious. He was getting her back for the Gone Girl stunt she had pulled by re enacting one of his own. That sneaky bastard. That sexy..

Eliza kissed him and held him. They were laughing and crying and happy.

"That was perfect, Bae," she whispered. 

She had called him that when she had been drunk. Again that sad night.

"Now where the devil are my slippers, Eliza?" He deadpanned. 

She punched him in the arm then kissed him again. "That's not the last line, mister."

"Hastag, Team Henry?" 


	4. Valentines Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza and Henry a month and a half later on Valentine's Day

_Henry and I were now a couple. Back on New Year's Eve, he gave me that powdered sugar kiss and #teamheliza was official. Breaking up with Freddy the next day via screentime was awkward, but inevitable. And we spent more time together every weekend in January doing couple things like farmer markets, visiting museums, and going to the movies. But the one thing I wanted most was to consummate our relationship and he was totes balking at that. Thank goodness for the genius who made the Hitachi wand (to tide me over). Now with Valentine's Day Weekend coming up, I was hornier than a maximum security prisoner who had just been released after serving a dime. And if bae wasn't going to put out this weekend, I was gonna turn Lorena Bobbitt on him or worse. J/K... but you get the point. ___

__Eliza glanced down at her handwritten journal. If Amy from Gone Girl could make a paper diary instead of an online blog, she could too. And with that, she left her desk and headed for Henry's office. It was lunchtime._ _

__"Okay Romeo," she burst into his office. "What are we doing this weekend and don't say Fifty Shades of Grey.."_ _

__"It is Valentine's Day weekend," Henry agreed. "And I don't want to let the cat out of the bag yet. I want to surprise you, my dear."_ _

__"Well if it involves licking alcohol flavored whipped cream off your body," she began huskily._ _

__"Eliza," he sighed._ _

__"Henry," she glared at him._ _

__He touched her cheek tenderly. "I'm so happy we get to share our first Valentine's Day together. And I will go all out in making sure it's special for you."_ _

__"Thank you," she half smiled. "I've never had a real Valentine before."_ _

__"Come on," he chided._ _

__"No guy has every given me anything on Valentine's Day," she confessed. "No flowers, no candy. Even in grade school when kids usually gave out cards to everyone in class, I never got any."_ _

__"Eliza," he said softly, and she could tell he felt bad for her._ _

__"You don't have to make me feel better, I have you now."_ _

__"Well, I'm gonna make you feel better anyway. I talked your Director into giving you last minute vacation time. How's a week in Hawaii sound? We can leave tonight so we'll be there in time to kick off Valentine's Day weekend."_ _

__She was genuinely touched. Hastag best boyfriend ever. Hashtag so blessed._ _

__"Bae, I don't care if we spent Valentine's Day at the Bates Motel as long as it's with you."_ _

__He smiled and leaned in for a kiss._ _

__She gave him more, like tongue and all._ _

__"Eliza..."_ _

__"Listen Henry," she warned him. "And listen good. If I don't see you naked and I'm not shouting the name of a certain candy bar named after you by tomorrow night, we're cutting this vacay short and going to couples therapy."_ _

__He looked at her with a straight face and had the nerve to give her a small burn. "What's our safety word?"_ _


	5. Kiss Me, I'm Irish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When it's St Patrick's Day, what better way than to celebrate with the Dooleys?

Eliza pulled into Henry's driveway. Ever since they had gotten together on New Year's, she had been spending the bulk of her time here. She liked his place a lot and it occurred to her that she could be moving in with him in the near future. She wore a stylish Irish dancer dress that was short, it went down to mid thigh. It had intricate designs and a couple Celtic crosses on it.

She entered his house and found Henry in the kitchen. He wore a dark sports jacket with an Irish green casual T along with some blue Chinos. It amazed her how he could look good in practically anything.

"Hey bae," she smiled at him. "You look good enough to eat."

"Do I?" he inquired. "Maybe I should have worn a suit."

"Nonsense," she told him. "Then you would have had me pinching you all night for not wearing green."

"I want to make a good impression on your mother," he told her.

"It's a Dooley St Patrick's Day dinner, nothing formal," she assured him. 

Henry kissed her on the check. He was wary of meeting Eliza's mom for the first time mainly because he didn't know how she'd react to him being Korean. 

"I like the dress," he told her.

"You'll love the green panties underneath too," she said huskily.

"Eliza, what did I say about trying to get me all hot and bothered before we have something important to do?"

"Sometime's quickies are good for relationships," she retorted playfully.

"What am I going to do with you?" he chuckled.

"I can think of a number of things," she suggested.

"Well we can do them after. Right now we have to get your sister's House. You know the way, so do you want to drive?"

"Don't you want my mom to see your new Audi A7?"

"I want you to drive so you don't try and give me road head," he gave her a burn.

"Fine," she made a face at him. "Let's get going. Don't forget the wine."

Henry hoped that Eliza's mom exemplified the best qualities of both her daughters.

He knew Eliza felt like second best to her sister. Once she told him she was the understudy to Bethany' for the role of Annie in their school musical and she bombed because Sandy the dog refused to work with her the night Bethany was sick.

"Ready to head to Awesome Town?" she asked. 

"Bethany lives in Valencia?" Henry inquired.

"I told you she is Miss Perfect," the ginger told him. She handed him her phone. "Mr Sulu, lay in a course on Waze."

Henry gave her a side eye then punched in the commands.

1-5N was always a major headache but Henry and Eliza made the most of their 1 hour drive to the Santa Clarita Valley. They made their way to the Woodlands Ironwood gated community

While it wasn't Rancho de Saperstein, the property impressed Henry. He noted the prominent Santa Barbara style of their home with it's huge three car garage and well maintained landscape of palm trees and exotic bushes. He estimated the home to be worth about quarter of a million dollars.

"My Mini looks out of place in this driveway," Eliza remarked.

She and Henry walked down the cobblestone path to the Wrought Iron Gated Courtyard Entry. Before they could ring the doorbell, the leaded glass door opened to reveal Pete, Bethany's husband.

"Eliza! Henry welcome!" he greeted with a warm smile. “Lá fhéile Pádraig sona dhuit!”

"Erin go bragh!" Henry responded warily.


	6. Unbreakable!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> During Easter weekend, Eliza and Henry come up with a plan to make more money.

It was Good Friday and most workers had the option of coming to work at Kinderkare Pharmaceuticals. As usual, Henry had been there since 8am. He had planned to leave around lunchtime and leave with Eliza from there and head to the airport to catch a flight to San Francisco. 

Since they were now an official couple, they had to do obligatory things with each other's families. And Henry's mom had specifically requested that he come out to spend Easter weekend with the family. It was inevitable that she would have to eventually meet his parents and be privy to the family secrets. Last month, he had spent St Patrick's Day with the Dooley clan and had managed to charm Rowan, Bethany and Eliza's 50 something mom. 

To him, Peter and Bethany were a normal couple and he had thoroughly enjoyed spending time with them. He could not say the same for Eliza meeting his brother, Greg. The latter had graduated from Stanford with a MBA summa cum laude. And while he now owned a Buca Di Beppo in San Francisco, it was his marijuana and other drug trafficking that made him a multimillionaire. Greg had earned the nickname "Big Murder" at school and it transitioned to his reputation as one of the West Coast's most powerful drug dealers. Henry had the DEA questioning him more than once about his brother's operations and that had damaged their relationship.

“Good morning sir,” Charlie entered his office.

“Morning Charlie,” Henry acknowledged his assistant.

“I’m going to leave early today, I’m going to Palm Springs for the weekend.”

“Have fun and Happy Easter.”

“I wanted to run something by you, though.”

“Shoot.”

“I was watching the Indiana Mole Women trial and one of them gave an interview that she survived down in that bunker so long because she had a stockpile of our chewable multivitamin and I was thinking that we should get her as an official spokeswoman.”

Henry pondered Charlie’s pitch and weighed the pros and cons. Charlie looked at him expectantly and let out a sigh of relief when he saw a big grin spread across the older man’s face.

“Charlie, you may be onto something. We should pitch this to Saperstein immediately.”

Eliza wasn't in the office. She was down on Melrose Avenue, looking for the perfect Easter dress. She wanted to look great for Henry's family and didn't want to dress too slutty so she brought Bryn with her. It wasn't in her budget to splurge and she wasn't about to ask Henry to use his credit card. She had also enlisted Bryn's help in obtaining Easter Candy and baking the perfect lamb shaped cake. Growing up, she had always felt lonely and now she had one true boyfriend and new friends in Bryn and Charmonique and even Bethany. Her life was now beginning to feel complete.

“I wish I had enough money to buy an Easter outfit enough to impress Henry’s parents,” she told her hipster neighbor.

“Remember when I hooked you up for your Chairman’s wedding?” Bryn reminded her.

“Yeah and that’s why you’re here now,” nodded the redhead.

“How about Vera Wang. Kohl’s has some nice Spring dresses under $100.”

She cared about what Henry’s mom would think of her Easter attire and especially if they were going to attend church services. But if it was Vera Wang and Henry’s mom was Asian, maybe it would work.

“I need to find a second job,” Eliza remarked. “Maybe I should write a book like Coryn McWaters.”

“Isn’t your sister the author?”

“Yeah, she could help me.”

“While your book idea may bear fruit,” Bryn told her, “The person that lands that Mole Women autobiography is bound to make a fortune.”

“I’ve been following that Indiana cult trial on TV!” Eliza said excitedly.

“Yeah there was four of them and each of their stories is bound to be a best seller. Someone should reach out to them and tell their story.”

“That is a project I could pitch, the story of a mole woman and my story too.”

“Which one were you thinking of?”

“The redhead ovs,” smiled Eliza. “Her name is Kimmy Schmidt.”

Was she on social media? Eliza checked her contacts and her face lit up when she saw that Kimmy_Schmidt was a follower on Instagram. _OMG_  
Barely able to contain her excitement, she called Henry.

“Guess what, bae?”

“Good morning my dear, I’m in the middle of a meeting with Sam.”

“Oh, sorry,” she quickly apologized.

“No need!” boomed Saperstein’s deep voice. “”Henry put Eliza on speaker.”

“The marketing department has come up with a good idea to boost sales of our multivitamin,” Henry told her. “We’ve decided to try and get a normal endorser who’s skyrocketed to fame.”  
Eliza smirked when she heard that. She knew Henry well enough to know where he was going. “Kimmy Schmidt?”

“What?” Henry looked at Charlie and Sam incredulous.

“Bryn and I came up with an idea of our own. We get Kimmy to tell her story. Hashtag book deal. Cha-ching!”

“And Kimmy makes a lot of money herself through endorsements and a book? That’s great!” Henry exclaimed.

“It’s surreal we came up with this around the same time!”

“Little bit of you, little bit of me?” laughed the marketing VP.

“Duh, winning!”


	7. A Double Doolio Birthday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eliza's niece arrives close to her birthday

It was well after midnight and Eliza was aroused from a peaceful slumber from a phone call from her brother in law, Pete. 

"Bethany's water just broke!" he exclaimed into the phone.

She sprang out of her bed and threw on a tshirt and sweats and grabbed a special bag. Minutes later, she was on the highway driving her Fiat through nearly every stoplight. On the way, she managed to call Henry.

 

"Meet me at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center!" she insisted after he answered the phone rather groggily.

"Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

"My sister's going to have her baby. I promised her and mom that I'd be in the birthing suite."

It was the same place that Kim and Kanye had their first child. The place rivaled a four star resort deluxe suite.

"I'll meet you there," he agreed, happy for her.

Despite the late hour, he had to be there for her. Things like this mattered now.

Hours later, Eliza emerged from the birthing area to meet Henry in the private waiting room within the suite. She had on scrubs and removed the disposable cap from her head. Despite looking a little tired and disheveled, she smiled radiantly.

"I'm officially an aunt," she beamed. "I thought I'd be grossed out watching a baby being born but it was amazing!"

"Glad to hear it," he grinned.

"And here's the newest member of our family, Fiona Grace!" she had taken a selfie with her sister and niece almost immediately.

"Eliza," he rolled his eyes good naturedly.

"Couldn't pass it up," she stated, nudging him playfully.

"Still mad she has a birthday near yours?"

"No I'm not, Henry. It means more cake and time with Bethany and mom every October."

He wanted to kiss her bad and she noticed it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Uebermensch who came up with the name "Fiona Grace" and to Cam Caddell , the actual Eliza Dooley who gave her endorsement for her niece on Twitter recently.

**Author's Note:**

> It is a shame Selfie was cancelled by ABC. It wasn't even given a chance. You came to care about all the characters.


End file.
